The Philippine men’s tennis team trounced Northern Mariana Islands, 2-1, to cap a near-perfect run in the Asia/Oceania Group V action of the 2024 Davis Cup at the Bahrain Polytechnic University in Isa Town on Saturday, Nov. 23.

The Filipinos, who swept all of their matches in the group play to advance to the promotional playoff, shrugged off the tough stand from the Northern Marianas Island team to earn a spot to the Asia/Oceania Group IV next year.

Setting the tone to the contest in the singles, Eric Olivarez Jr. made quick work of Robert Schorr 6-1,6-0 but Alberto Lim couldn’t sustain his hot start to drop a 7-5, 4-6, 1-6 decision at the hands of Colln Sinclair in the second singles match.

It was the team’s first taste of defeat throughout the competition after coming out unscathed, 9-0, in the group stage after its 3-0 sweeps against Turkmenistan, Mongolia and Macau.

Picking up the pieces from that loss were the duo of Francis Alcantara and Ruben Gonzales who dominated the tandem of Schorr and Sinclair with a 7-5, 6-1 triumph to formally clinch the promotion.

The PH team also has Patrick John Tierro and captain Joseph Lizardo.

With the win, the Philippines, along with Nepal which defeated host Bahrain, is joining Group IV holdovers Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan and Iraq as well as Malaysia and Pacific Oceania who were both relegated from Group III.

The promotion marked a successful return for the Philippines in the Davis Cup following a four-year absence which explained why the PH team had to go through a series of promotions to make it back to the World Group II where it last saw action back in 2020.